


Nice everything

by ArkkienkeliVitunGabriel, edosiiL



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Dustin Henderson is a Good Friend, Explicit Description Of Drug Use, Explicit Description Of Dying, F/M, Getting Together, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Sorry, Major character death - Freeform, Mom Steve Harrington, Overdose, Past Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Please Don't Hate Me, Post-Season/Series 02, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recreational Drug Use, Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents, Steve Harrington Has Nightmares, Steve Harrington Has a Bad Time, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Steve Harrington-centric, Stranger Things 3, Stranger Things Season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-03 01:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19453234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArkkienkeliVitunGabriel/pseuds/ArkkienkeliVitunGabriel, https://archiveofourown.org/users/edosiiL/pseuds/edosiiL
Summary: Steve Harrington was frustrated with his piece of a crap of a life. During the past few years, his life had taken a great leap towards downhill. Sure, his downfall might have been the best thing to happen to him in a long time, but he still had his problems.---This was written before the 3rd season came out but there is speculation based on the leaks. Most of this fic is not angst, but there is definitely no happy ending.EDIT: Yeah, our "pretty believable" "leaks" were 95% not correct so... No spoilers here!





	Nice everything

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and thanks for coming here. Please, read the whole thing, I swear it gets better by the end. And thanks to my awesome beta/editor/co-writer/friend @edosiiL (neither of us is tech-savvy enough to make a link...) for helping me with this at the expense of her sleep and sanity. I literally couldn't have finished this if I had no one correcting my mistakes.

Steve Harrington was frustrated with his piece of crap of a life. During the past few years, his life had taken a great leap towards the downhill. Sure, his downfall might have been the best thing to happen to him in a long time, but he still had his problems.

Things had first gone down at that godawful Halloween party, 1984. His girlfriend, Nancy Wheeler, had gotten drunk. Steve had tried his best to make her stop drinking. Instead, he had managed to spill punch on Nancy's white shirt. People had stared at them, some had laughed and whistled.

“The hell,” Nancy had whispered out and run into the bathroom. Steve had gone after her. Nancy had already been trying to clean the stain on her shirt.

“Nancy, I'm sorry. It’s not gonna come off, Nance," Steve had mumbled.

Nancy had scrubbed her shirt harder. “It’s coming.”

"Come on. Let me just take you home, okay? Come here."

"You wanted- you wanted this," Nancy had slurred.

"No, I didn't want this. I told you to stop drinking."

"It's bullshit. Bullshit."

"No, it's not bullshit. Okay? It's not bullshit, Nancy."

"No, you. You’re bullshit," Nancy had said, leaving both of them silent for a while.

“What?” Steve’s voice had cracked.

“You’re pretending like everything is okay, ya know like- like we didn’t kill Barb,” Nancy had slurred. “Like it’s great, like we’re in love, and we’re partying, yeah let’s party, party, we’re partying,” Nancy had said. “This, this is bullshit.”

“Like we’re in love?” Steve’s voice had cracked again. He had gently touched Nancy’s cheek with his hand. She had glared at him. “Bullshit.”

“You don’t love me?”

“It’s bullshit.”

Steve had left the party in a hurry.

━━━

Being Nancy’s boyfriend, Steve had always picked her up for school. However, after Nancy’s drunk confession, he had decided not to bother giving her rides. Not for a while, at least. And because of that, Nancy had missed first period. And she had been pissed. Steve hadn’t been too surprised when Nancy had shown up at the gym.

“What are you doing here?” Steve had asked her.

Even though Steve had been a bit reluctant, they had gone out for a nice little chat.

“What do you think?” Nancy had asked. “Where were you this morning? I missed first period.”

“Figured Jonathan would take you."

“What are you talking about?”

“Jesus, you really can't handle your alcohol,”Steve had said. “Uh... you remember going to Tina's party last night, right?”

Nancy had nodded. “Yes.”

"Alright, and then what?"

“I remember dancing, and... spilling some punch. You got mad at me because I was drunk... and then you took me home.”

Steve had scoffed again. “No, see, that’s where your mind gets a little fuzzy. That was your other boyfriend. That was Jonathan.”

“I don’t understand."

"It's pretty simple, Nancy. You were just telling it like it is."

“What?”

“Uh,” Steve had said, “apparently we killed Barb and I don’t care, ‘cause I’m bullshit and our whole- our whole relationship is bullshit,” his voice had sounded shaky. “I mean pretty much anything is just bullshit, bullshit, bullshit." He had hesitated for a while and then added: "Oh, yeah, also you don’t love me.”

Nancy had gone to defence immediately. “I was drunk, Steve. I don’t remember any of that!”

“So that makes everything you said... it’s what? Just bullshit, too?”

“Yes!”

“Then tell me,” Steve had said, his voice quiet.

“Tell you what?” Nancy had seemed impatient.

“You love me.”

Nancy had gone silent. She had glanced at the ground and slowly looked up. That had been enough of an answer for Steve.

“I think you’re bullshit,” he had said and left again.

━━━

Not long after that Steve had tried to apologize to Nancy with some roses. Although, it hadn't felt like apologizing at all.

“Listen, I've been thinking... I love you, sorry... Sorry? What the hell am I sorry for?” he had muttered to himself as he had walked towards the house. It had felt so, so unfair.

Suddenly, Dustin Henderson, a kid he had barely, known had approached him.

"Steve! Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?" Dustin had asked.

Steve had lifted an eyebrow. "No?"

"Good," Dustin had said and snatched the roses from Steve.

"Hey, what the hell?"

Dustin had walked to Steve's car. "Nancy isn't home."

Confused and roseless, Steve had stared at him.

"Where is she?"

"Doesn't matter. We have bigger problems than your love life," Dustin had said and opened the car’s door. "You still have that bat? The one with the nails?"

“Why?”

“I’ll explain on the way,” Dustin had said as he sat on the passenger seat.

"Now?" Steve had asked, beyond confused at this point.

"Now!"

Feeling like he had had no choice, Steve had sighed and walked to the driver’s side.

━━━

Life had taken quite a turn for Steve that day. It had turned out that Dustin had had some kind of a pet called Dart, which had now escaped. It had all sounded sweet to Steve at first. That had been until Dustin had broken the news to him: oh, yes, Dart had happened to be some kind of a demonic creature. Just another normal day in Hawkins.

Steve had never in his life seen anything like . It hadn’t even been a day since he had tried to apologize to Nancy with the roses. The roses had never made their way to Nancy, but, at that point, Steve couldn’t have had cared less. The memory of what had happened would leave a lasting scar on his mind. He had never thought he would have to fight a bunch of demonic creatures some day. Fighting the monster hadn’t really lasted very long, but, by then, time had become irrelevant to him. He had known he needed to protect those kids and his, now dystopic, hometown.

━━━

Eventually, they had survived, but not without scars. Bob Newby, a kind man who Steve hadn’t quite known, had lost his life. Steve had seen the pain on Joyce Byer’s face when the rest of them had returned from the lab. His guts had twisted. Joyce was the mother of Will, the boy haunted by demons, and Jonathan, the boy Steve had used to bully. Steve had looked at her, frozen. Joyce had been crying and screaming Bob's name over and over. Steve had remembered how he had broken Jonathan’s camera a year earlier. His guts had twisted again, this time out of of guilt. It really hadn't been one of his most glorious moments.

It had already been dark outside when he had seen Max’s stepbrother, Billy, drive to the yard of the Byers’ house. Steve had walked outside and slammed the front door shut behind him. “What are you doing here, amigo?”

“I’m looking for my stepsister,” Billy had said with a cigarette between his lips. “A little birdie told me she was here.”

Steve had put on a surprised expression. “Huh, that’s weird, I don’t know her.”

“Small, redhead,” Billy had said. “A little of a bitch.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry buddy,” Steve had said. Billy had clearly gotten annoyed with his responses. He had blown out smoke and sighed.

"You know, I don't know. This whole situation, Harrington, I don't know," he had said. "It's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

Heebie-jeebies. Fucking heebie-jeebies. In any other situation, Steve would have had laughed. What a choice of words.

"Oh, yeah? Why is that?" He had asked.

Billy had blown out more smoke again. “My thirteen years old sister goes missing all day. And then I find her with you. In a stranger’s house. And you lie to me about it.”

Steve had forced out a chuckle. "Man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what? I don't know what you don't understand about what I just said. She's not here."

Billy had glanced behind Steve and turned his gaze back to him. “Then who is that?”

Steve had turned around to see the kids in the window before they all had gone down. Fucking idiots. “Ah shit, listen-“

He hadn’t had the chance to finish the sentence before getting pushed down to the ground and kicked.

It had taken him a while to get up and run after Billy. When he had gotten back inside, he had seen Billy standing near Lucas.

“You are so dead, Sinclair,” Billy had breathed out.

“No, you are,” Steve had said and punched Billy, giving Lucas a chance to run back to Dustin and Mike.

Billy had laughed out loud. “I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve everyone has been telling me so much about," he had sneered.

“Get out,” Steve had said and pushed Billy slightly. Billy had stared at him before grabbing a plate and smashing it on Steve’s head. Steve’s ears had rung as he had backed away. Billy had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. “No one tells me what to do.”

With that, he had knocked Steve down. Steve hadn’t been able to get up before Billy had gotten on top of him and beat the living shit out of him. He had stopped being able to hear. He had only felt Billy’s fists on his face, punch after punch. He had blacked out.

━━━

To Steve’s relief, the lab had shut down about a month after Eleven had unleashed her anger and closed the portal. Nancy’s friend who had died, Barbara, had gotten a proper funeral which Steve had attended with Nancy and Jonathan. Even though they had all showed up together as a group, he had felt like Nancy and Jonathan had come as a couple and Steve himself had been all alone.

Steve had offered Dustin a ride home after the funeral, despite the fact that Dustin's parents had been there, as well. He had felt grateful, almost relieved when Dustin had accepted his offer.

"How did you do it?" Steve had asked suddenly, having had almost immediately regretted it.

"Do what?"

Steve had gripped the steering wheel harder. "How did you, like, go back to normal? Last year, y'know."

"Oh." Dustin had shrugged. "We didn't really talk about it, too dangerous and shit. We kinda had to pretend it never happened."

Steve had sighed. "Great. That's great. Super healthy."

Dustin had hummed something inaudible in response. Then it had been silent. Steve had never been a fan of silence.

Dustin had glanced at Steve. "Why did you wanna give me a ride, though? My parents were there."

"I know. I just- just... needed someone to hang with. And you’re probably, like, the closest person to me right now," Steve had said. The idea of being alone at the moment had terrified him.

Dustin had nodded. "That's okay, Steve," he had said. "Oh hey, why weren't your parents there?"

Steve had clenched his jaw. "Yeah, they-they don't really, uh, they don't..."

"They don't care?"

Steve had let out a strained chuckle. "They don't even know who Nancy is. Let alone Barb. I never told them me and Nancy were an item," he said, quiet. "Besides, they're out of town. Again."

Dustin had looked down. "Oh. I, uh, I'm sorry."

Steve had shaken his head. "It's fine. My parents don't matter."

"Okay," Dustin had mumbled. "So you and Nancy? How did things go with you two?"

Steve's face had felt stiff. Dustin had asked him about the one person he really hadn't wanted to talk about. Just about his luck.

He had tried to sound like he didn’t care cared, failing miserably. "We, uh, we..."

"Broke up?"

Steve had nodded. "Yeah."

Dustin had nodded as well. "Sorry. That must suck."

"Yeah, it does. We never actually ended things for real but- but the way she held Jonathan's hand and wouldn't really look directly at me," he had gulped, "it was pretty obvious."

"I'm sorry, I didn't kno- are you crying?"

Steve had been sort of unaware of the stinging heat in his eyes until Dustin had pointed it out. It had suddenly become hard to ignore. The tears had rolled out, burning his skin. Steve had never felt as vulnerable as then.

"Sorry," he had sniffled. "Didn't mean to cry like this."

"No, no, it's okay," Dustin had said, quick. "Don't feel sorry. It's normal. It's like- what people do." He had paused. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Yes. I'm all fine," Steve had said, his face now splotchy and red with the tears. "Nothing- nothing to worry about."

"Okay. Well, this- this is my house."

Steve had nodded. "Right. Yes."

Dustin had opened the door but he hadn't stepped out. "I uh- are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah-," Steve had said but lying had suddenly felt wrong, like a burning pain in his chest. "No," he had croaked. He really hadn't been okay.

Dustin had slammed the door shut. "That's it. I'm not leaving yet."

"No, seriously," Steve had said and wiped some tears off. "You can go if you wanna."

"Well, I don't. Not when you're like this," Dustin had said, his voice stern and serious. He had suddenly seemed so mature.

"Sorry," Steve had mumbled.

"I swear, if you apologize one more time, I'll punch you in the face," Dustin had said. Steve had chuckled, even though it had come out more like a sob.

"Thanks," he had said after a while of heavy breathing. "It's just- everything happened, like, so fast, y'know."

"Yeah. That's life, unfortunately," he had said and paused again. "Are you sure you're okay now, Steve?"

"I'll be fine," Steve had said and wiped his tear stained face once more. "Thanks for listening to- whatever this bullshit was."

Dustin had smiled and opened the door. "What are friends for?" He had said and left, slamming the door shut.

Steve had stayed in the car for a good while, just sitting and staring at the road. He had breathed in the smell of the car. The car his father had bought him.

"I don't know," he had whispered to no one and drove off.

━━━

MAY 1985

Steve hadn’t gotten accepted into college. Money hadn’t been an issue, his family had loads. The problem had been his grades. They had been rather bad. Not the worst out there, but nowhere near good enough for college. His parents had been disappointed.

“What will you do?” his father had asked one day. He had leaned against Steve’s doorframe and crossed his arms. “You can’t just stay home doing nothing.”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll figure something out," Steve had mumbled.

“I could get you a job at the new mall. I bet they have lots of open spots there," his father had said.

Steve had rolled his eyes. “Spectacular."

“Don’t you talk to me like that," his father had growled, his voice low and intimidating. "This is all I’ll give you. Take it or leave it because I won’t help you after this. Do you understand, Steve?”

Steve had felt his eyes sting. "Yes."

With that, his father had slammed the door shut, leaving Steve alone in his room. A minute had passed. Then two. On the third minute, Steve had burst into tears.

━━━

“Hey man, thanks for hanging out with me,” Steve had said. After things had gone downhill for him, he had figured that Dustin would be the right person to talk to. After all, he had been the one to see Steve cry before. Even though they hadn't mentioned that incident ever again.

“No problem,” Dustin had said. “So you got a job?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna sell ice cream at the new Scoops Ahoy at Starcourt.”

“That’s nice! Do friends get discounts?” Dustin had grinned.

“Oh, shut up. It’s not that great,” Steve had said.

“Why?”

“Because everyone else is going to college or something. Nancy and Jonathan will probably become journalists or some shit. And what am I doing? Selling fucking ice cream.”

Dustin’s grin had faded quite quick. “Hey, you’re not any worse than them."

"Are you sure? I've been a jerk my entire life. Or at least until last year."

"Not really. You were always an average teenager, y'know."

"I was?"

Dustin had snorted. "Jesus, Steve. Teenagers are like that."

"Yeah but- I broke Jonathan's camera."

"Yeah, well, he did take those pictures of your girlfriend. Anyone would react like that."

Steve had sighed. "Yeah but I still did it."

"You replaced it!"

"Only because Nancy wanted me to!

Dustin had groaned. "See, Steve, that proves you're not a total asshole."

"How-"

Dustin had groaned again. "Because Nancy asked you to replace the camera and you did. Seriously, you're such an airhead."

"Oh." Steve had shrugged. "I mean, I didn't want to upset her."

"See? That's the thing. Douches don't care who they upset."

"Yeah but still-"

Dustin had practically growled at this point. "Listen here, fucker-"

"Language."

"Listen here, dipshit. You are not a douche. Okay?"

Steve had grinned. "Yeah. Okay."

━━━

JUNE 1985

Steve's first day at the new job hadn't been that bad. The employer had been fairly nice, the working environment had been all neat, being brand new and all, and even his co-workers had been decent. A Win. And Billy hadn't been there. A double win.

Steve's employer had handed him a uniform. It had been a sailor costume including a funny hat and stripes and all. Steve had written his name on the nametag and then just waited.

"Harrington?"

Steve had turned around. A girl with brown hair had been standing next to him, looking surprised but grinning.

"Huh. I never knew this would be your kind of job," she had said, measuring Steve with her gaze. "I thought, with all that money, you'd get anywhere."

"Sorry, do we know each other?" Steve had sighed.

The girl had leaned on the counter. "Not really. But doesn't everyone know you?"

Steve had frowned. "Why?"

"Because you're King Steve," the girl had said, like it should have been obvious. "That's what they called you, didn’t they?"

Steve had suddenly gotten defensive. "Please, don't call me that," he had warned her.

The girl had raised her eyebrows. "Oh? What's the problem? I thought you liked your title."

Steve had looked away. "Not anymore."

"What happened then?"

Steve had sighed. What a nosy girl. "Let's just say that I started hanging out with a bunch of twelve-year-olds."

"Should I call the cops?"

Steve had shrugged. "Whatever, go ahead. They're probably back to being bored, anyways."

"What?"

"Never mind."

"No but seriously, what kids?" The girl had asked, obviously curious. Steve had rolled his eyes.

"Why would I tell you? Who even are-"

"Robin," the girl had said and offered her hand. "We went to the same school?"

"Oh," Steve had said and shaken her hand. "I'm Steve."

Robin had grinned. "Yeah, no shit. I know who you are, remember?"

"Oh," Steve had said again. "How come I never saw you at school?"

"Duh. You're you and I'm me. Y'know how it is."

"Ah... sorry," Steve had mumbled, a bit embarrassed.

Robin had shrugged it off. "No hard feelings. It’s not like I cared. So, the kids? How did you end up hanging with them?”

"It's a long story. I can't really tell you what happened."

"Oh? So you're telling me you hung out with a bunch of kids and you can't tell me why? That does sound sketchy."

Steve had chuckled. "Okay, okay, I'm, uh, kinda babysitting them. But that's not all."

Robin had raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah, uh, you know my ex-girlfriend, right? Nancy Wheeler? Yeah, I hang out with her little brother. And her new boyfriend's little brother."

“Wait," Robin had said, "like that guy you used to bully? Byers? His little brother? Are you feeling okay?"

"I don't do that anymore," Steve had mumbled. "That was shitty of me."

"Yeah, no shit", she had said. Steve had shot her a glare.

"Sorry, didn't mean to offend you," she had grinned. "All of that just sounds pretty weird to me."

"I know. A lot of weird things have happened to me lately. You have no idea."

"Really? Like what?"

"Can't tell you. I said that already."

"Creep," Robin had grinned.

Steve had rolled his eyes. "I gotta use the bathroom. You know where it is?"

Robin had pointed to a corridor. "Left."

━━━

Robin had leaned on the desk again. Soon a young boy with curly hair had run to the shop.

"Hi!" The boy had flashed Robin a smile. "Is Steve here? The guy with the awesome hair?"

"Uh, yea he's here. Are you, like, gonna order anything or...? Wait, are you one of the kids Steve hangs out with?"

"I, uh, I might be? What exactly did he tell you?"

Steve had come back from the bathroom before Robin had had time to answer.

"Dustin! Hey man," he had said. "You getting ice cream?"

Dustin had given him a what-the-fuck-have-you-done-look. "Did you tell a stranger-"

"Robin," she had said.

"Whatever. Did you tell her about- about all the stuff... that happened?"

Steve had rolled his eyes. "Why yes, Dustin, because I'm a fucking idiot."

Dustin had flashed a wide grin. "Good."

Robin had seemed curious. "Now you definitely have to tell me."

"Can't. Top secret," Dustin had said.

"Did you kill someone or what?"

Steve and Dustin had shared a look.

"Oh my god," Robin had said. "You totally did!"

"No! Nothing like that," Steve had said. "We just uh-"

"He plays D&D with us!" Dustin had exclaimed.

"Woah what?"

Steve had given Dustin a glare. "Yeah. That's true," he had said with a blank expression. "I play Dungeons and Dragons in my ex-girlfriend's basement. Without her."

Robin had burst into laughter. "This is brilliant! I thought you were a creep but you're just lame!"

Dustin had grinned. "But you gotta admit it’s the best game."

"I wouldn’t know," Robin had said. "I've never played it."

"No way? You’ve got to join us some time!"

"Okay, calm down, kiddo," Steve had said. "We barely know her."

Robin had smiled. "Sure, maybe someday."

━━━

"So, today was kinda fun," Steve had said when they had left the mall. "I didn't expect that at all."

Robin had walked by his side. "Yeah, me neither. I didn't expect you to actually be cool."

"Oh? I’m cool now? Say, am I cooler than Billy Hargrove?"

"Dude, anyone's cooler than him."

Steve had smirked. "That’s true."

"I heard he treats his stepsister like shit," Robin had said. Steve's smirk had faded away and he had looked away. "Yeah, he’s terrible to Max. I know her, she's friends with Dustin."

"Oh. I feel bad for her. Isn’t Hargrove also aggressive as shit?"

Steve had nodded. "Yeah. He takes his anger out on Max. Fuckhead."

"Yeah. So do we hate his guts, then?"

"Yes," Steve had nodded. "We do."

Robin had smirked and stopped walking. "Well, that, right there, is my shitty old bike," she had said, pointing at a rusty bicycle, "so... see you tomorrow."

Steve had smiled. "Yeah. See you."

━━━

Steve hadn’t expected to see Nancy on his porch. Yet, there she had been standing. Steve had tried to put on a friendly smile. “Hey, Nancy. What’s up?”

“Wipe that fake smile off your face,” Nancy had sighed. “We need to talk.”

Steve’s face had stiffened. “Yeah? About what?”

“About, well... us,” Nancy had mumbled.

"What about us?"

The atmosphere between them had gotten chilly. Steve had no longer wanted to continue the conversation. He had wanted to just go back inside and slam the door shut.

Nancy took a deep breath. “Look, we never broke up properly,” she said.

“Sure. I’m very aware."

“Yeah. So, that’s what I wanted to talk about,” Nancy had breathed out, quiet.

“That’s what you wanted to talk about?” Steve had asked, starting to feel irritated.

“Well, yes. Is that weird to you?”

Steve had scoffed. "You could say that, yeah. Why now, Nance? Why didn't we talk, what, about eight months ago? That’s when it all happened, right?”

“Yes,” Nancy had muttered. “But we never talked about it, like, at all. Doesn’t it bug you?”

“Of course it does!” Steve had practically yelled and thrown his arms up. “It has bugged me ever since it happened, but what can we do about it?”

Nancy’s eyes had looked somewhat teary. “Well, I don’t know. I thought you might have an idea. You know we never broke up properly.”

“Oh my god! Let’s break up then! Okay, there. We have officially broken up,” Steve had yelled.

“Steve, come on. You know I didn’t mean it like that,” Nancy had sighed. “I just thought that talking about it would make both of us feel better about it."

Steve’s expression had softened. “Sorry,” he had sighed. “Believe me, we’ll be fine someday. But I think we should talk to other people.”

“I don't think I understand,” Nancy had said, her voice quiet.

“We shouldn’t talk to each other but to people who make us feel good,” Steve had explained. “Jonathan is probably that for you. Y’know, we should focus on important people right now. I guess we'd just fight if we tried to talk."

“Oh. I think I understand. But what about you? Who will you talk to?”

“Uh,” Steve had said, smiling. “possibly Robin? Y'know, my co-worker. I kinda like her."

Nancy had smiled too. “Go get her.”

And just like that, they finally had talked about it. Kind of.

━━━

A few weeks into the job, Steve had decided to ask Robin out for the first time. He had waited until they had been alone.

"Hey," he had said. "Can I ask you something?"

Robin had been leaning on the desk in her typical manner. "Yea, of course. What is it?"

"There's this parade this evening," Steve had said.

"...Okay?"

Steve had cleared his throat. "I uh, I was wondering if you would, uh, like to go there with me."

"As in... on a date?" Robin had asked. Steve had nodded his head yes.

"Sorry, Steve," Robin had deadpanned, "but Billy Hargrove asked me already."

Steve had almost accepted Robin's rejection until his brain had registered the name. "Wait, what the shit?" He had exclaimed. "I thought we hated his guts!"

Robin had burst into laughter. "I was messing with you, you idiot! Of course, I’ll come with you."

"Shit," Steve mumbled, grinning. "Screw you."

Robin had grinned back at him. "It's still a date, right?"

"Depends. Do you want it to be?"

"You bet I do, Harrington."

"Then, yes, it is."

━━━

Tuesday 4.6.1985

When Hawkins had been under yet another attack, there had been two thoughts in Steve's mind. One: "this fucking town can't stay out of trouble for one year", and two: "I have to tell Robin the truth". That's what he had done.

After Robin had found out about everything, she had been pretty shaken for the first half an hour or so. Steve had been surprised when she had sat down for the full story. Having had expected Robin to call it a bunch of bullshit, he had mentally prepared himself for the worst. He was almost certain that Robin would call him crazy and leave him. End of story. But that hadn't happened. Instead, Robin had sat down next to Steve.

"I might be getting myself into a freakshow," she had said and grabbed Steve's hand, "but I trust you."

Steve had stared at her for a long time. "Thanks," he had finally breathed out, his voice slightly hoarse and given Robin a tight hug.

That had been it. Robin had trusted Steve and that had been all Steve had asked for.

━━━

It had been late at night. A perfect time for a couple of friends to hang out at a diner. A dead man's diner, to be exact. Lovely.

"I've been thinking," Dustin had said.

"You can do that?" Steve had joked, taking a bite of his burger.

Dustin had rolled his eyes. "Shut it, Harrington. I mean, I've been actually thinking. Like real stuff."

Steve had glanced at Dustin. He had slowly set his burger down. "Alright. What is it?"

Dustin had gone silent for a while. "Why exactly are you hanging out with me?" he had mumbled.

Steve had frowned. "What?"

"Why are you hanging out with me?" Dustin had repeated.

"No, no, I heard that. I mean, why would you ask that? We're friends, right?"

Dustin had nodded, slow and hesitant. "Yeah. But don't you think it's weird? Y'know, us being friends."

"No," Steve had said hastily, "why would it be? What, don't you wanna be friends with me?"

Dustin hadn't said anything. Neither had Steve. He had pulled a piece of salad out of his burger and chuckled sadly.

"S'pose that's a no," he had said, his voice barely audible.

"No," Dustin had said. "Sorry. I didn't mean that. I- yeah, of course I wanna be your friend."

Steve had shrugged. "It's fine if you don't wanna, y'know. I know you'd rather hang out with your other friends."

Dustin had lowered his head. "Actually, right now, I wouldn't."

"What?"

Dustin had twisted his hands. "We haven't been that close lately."

Steve had crossed his arms, neglecting his burger. "Explain."

"Explain what? That's it. We're just not that close as we used to be. That's what it means."

Steve had snorted. "Cheeky. But I mean, you did fight together again, didn’t you? "

Dustin had scoffed. "Of course we still help each other. We're not evil, Steve."

"Oh, okay. Makes sense."

They had gone all silent again. Steve hadn't liked it, not one bit. To him, the silence been heavy and unwanted.

Steve had been the first one to break the uncomfortable silence. "I-," he had said, hesitant, "I think know exactly how you feel."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Dustin," Steve had said. "We both don't have that many friends right now."

Dustin had lifted an eyebrow. "You're popular, Steve."

"Was, Dustin, the word's was. Not anymore. It's in the past," Steve had said. "And being popular doesn't equal having friends."

"Oh," Dustin had said. "But what about those two kids? Tommy and some girl?"

Steve's chest had felt tight. "Carol," he had said, with disgust, like the name had been poison in his mouth. "Don't mention them. We're not friends. I doubt we ever really were."

"But why aren't you friends anymore?"

Steve had sort of snorted. "See, Dustin, when you ditch your so called friends for some random kid- that's you," he had pointed at Dustin, "the friends don't appreciate that a lot."

Dustin had grinned. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"It does, doesn't it," Steve had said, grinning as well. "You're pretty much my only friend I can hang out with."

"How flattering," Dustin had said. "But you do have other friends, don't you? Couldn't you hang out with, uh, Jonathan?"

"Jonathan?" Steve had asked, his grin fading slowly. "No way. Nuh uh. Terrible idea."

"What, why?"

"It'd be weird," Steve had said. “So, so weird”.

"Why? He's, like, almost your age."

Steve had let out a chuckle. "Dustin, you're fucking thick. We might consider each other friends these days but," Steve had sighed, "I'm still the guy who bullied him. And it doesn’t help that he’s dating my ex-girlfriend."

"But you guys are on good terms, right?"

Steve had grimaced. "I wouldn't say that. We're on speaking terms. You know, overly polite small talk kind of stuff."

"Oh," Dustin had said.

There had been that same silence again. Weighty, grim silence. Steve really had hated it.

"Let's talk about something else," he had finally muttered when the silence had gone on for too long.

"Good idea," Dustin had agreed. "Well uh- hm- what are you afraid of the most?"

Steve had stayed silent for a few seconds after reacting. "What?"

"You heard me."

Steve had frowned. "I did, but that question was random as hell. I mean, where the fuck did it come from?"

"Dude. You know it's like almost midnight? My brain's not working properly this late."

"Seems so. It was still a weird thing to ask."

"Maybe," Dustin had shrugged. "That's what came into my mind first. So what are you afraid of?"

"I don't know," Steve had said, quick. Too quick. He had known. "I mean. I do know but, like, y'know. It's dumb."

Dustin had lifted his eyebrows. "I won't judge."

"Fine," Steve had scoffed. "If you must know, I'm- I’m afraid of dying alone."

Dustin had just stared at him, his mouth slightly open.

Steve had frowned. "You said you wouldn't judge."

"I'm not judging," Dustin had said. "I just didn't expect that. That was like, deep."

Steve had shrugged. "S'pose I'm full of surprises."

"I mean, I guess it's normal. Y'know, being scared of dying."

"I guess," Steve had said. "So what about you?"

"What about me?"

Steve had rolled his eyes. "I wanna know what you're afraid of, dumbass. I told you mine. Fair trade."

"Oh," Dustin has said. "Nothing, really. Just general stuff."

"And that would be? Don't just say general stuff."

"Like... spiders? Maybe?" Dustin had sounded unsure.

Steve had let out something between a laugh and a scoff. "Come on! I know you're not afraid of spiders."

"Ugh," Dustin had groaned. "I guess- I guess I'm afraid of-"

"Of?"

"Losingmyfriends," Dustin had said, quick and muffled.

"What was that? I didn't hear you."

Dustin had groaned again. "Losing. My. Damn. Friends."

"Oh."

"I know it's dumb," Dustin had said, looking embarrassed.

Steve had shaken his head. "No, it's not."

"Really?"

Steve had shaken his head again. "Yeah. I mean, that's a normal thing. Human instincts, I guess."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"Same to you, by the way," Dustin had said. "Y'know, about the death thing. It's a normal thing to be afraid of."

Steve had smiled a bit and glanced at the wall. There was a framed photo of Benny Hammond, the former owner of the diner. A man who had been killed by the same people that caused all the demonic troubles in Hawkins. There was writing below the picture.

"Died on November 7, 1983."

Steve had no longer wanted to look at the photo. He had quickly turned his gaze back to his half-eaten burger.

━━━

THURSDAY 6.6.1985

9.05 PM

Steve jolted up, yelling. He had had a nightmare again. Though, this time, Robin was there.

"Steve!" Robin exclaimed. "What's wrong? You're all sweaty."

Steve wiped some cold sweat off his forehead. "I uh... nothing, I'm fine-"

Robin frowned. "Was that... a nightmare?"

Steve swallowed thickly. "Yeah, something like that," he mumbled. "Sorry."

"Shut it," Robin said sternly. "You are not apologizing."

"Oh. Sorry-"

"Steve."

Steve let out a shaky laugh. "Sorry. It's just that I've been having nightmares recently. Trauma shit, I guess."

"It's that bad? I- I never knew."

Steve shrugged. "I don't talk about it a lot. It's not a big deal. It's just a few nightmares here and there."

"You know what," Robin said, sudden and firm, "I'm taking you for a walk. Now. Fresh air and stuff. And," she gave Steve a pointy look, "you're gonna talk about your damn feelings. Does that sound fine?"

Steve stared at her for a while and then nodded. "Yeah, alright."

━━━

"So what was it about," Robin asked.

Steve lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

"The nightmare."

"Oh. Demogorgons."

"Demogorgons?"

"Demogorgons."

Robin took Steve's hand and squeezed it slightly. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Steve shook his head firmly. "No, no it's okay. I'm fine," he said, quiet. "Just- be there."

Robin nodded. "Yeah, alright. I can do that," she said and looked around. "Do you wanna sit down for a while? There's a bench right there."

Steve lifted his gaze and nodded. Robin flashed him a reassuring smile and lead him to the bench. They sat down in total silence.

"Hey," Robin said after a while. "I have something. It will make you feel better."

Steve chuckled a bit. "Try me."

"I'm serious. It's great stuff."

"Wait- stuff?" Steve said and frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Steve...," Robin said and smirked wide, "have you ever done drugs?"

━━━

"Drugs," Steve repeated. "Drugs."

"Yes, Steve, drugs. Have you?"

Steve shook his head no. He had seen some of his teammates do drugs before, but he had never touched any himself. The idea was scary, yet tempting.

"Well," Robin said and pulled something out of her pocket. "Wanna try some?"

"What is it?" Steve asked. "Wait- you do drugs?"

Robin chuckled. "Look at me. Of course I do drugs. What about me made you think I didn't? And look" she said and showed Steve the white stuff in a small plastic bag, "I've got cocaine."

Steve stared at the bag. "Oh, oh, oh. Oh, shit. Cocaine. Oh, god."

"Oh, come on, don't be like that. It’s just crack cocaine, so it’s just like smoking."

"Shit", Steve said again.

Robin smiled. "Relax. It's fine, I'll show you how to do it."

Steve frowned. "Alright. Fine."

Robin's face lighted up. "Is that a yes?"

Steve nodded shortly. "Yeah, I'll try it."

Just like she had promised, Robin showed him how to smoke the stuff.

━━━

It happened faster than Steve had thought. Robin really did know what she was doing. Steve was impressed, insanely impressed, for some reason. His head was in the clouds.

"Well," Robin grinned. "How are you feeling?"

Steve grinned as well. "Pretty weird?"

Robin grinned wider. "Great, isn't it? You were scared for no reason."

"Yeah," Steve said because he really did feel amazing. He felt like he was on the top of the world. He felt like he could do anything without getting hurt in any way. He felt untouchable. It was so, so awesome.

"Dude," Robin said, "how are you feeling about those nightmares now?"

"What- oh, those," Steve said and shrugged it off, waving his hand in the air. "Those were bullshit. This, this is great."

Robin giggled. "And, tell me, how are you feeling about Nancy? Are you still bitter? Huh?"

"Nancy?" Steve asked and laughed out loud. "Never!"

Steve's head was spinning. A voice in his head yelled "Robin! Robin! Robin!." Damn, Steve thought. He and Robin, they would be together forever and ever. And ever. And ever. An entire eternity.

Steve felt the adrenaline pumping in his veins. Robin. He wanted to kiss her. Right now. Why hadn't he done it before?

"Robin," he said, grinning, wide and silly. "D'ya wanna kiss me?"

Robin beamed and giggled again. "Hell yeah!"

They kissed. It was sweet and short, and just like Steve had imagined for weeks. He really, really liked it. But it was too quick and the moment was gone just like that. Too fast, Steve thought. He wanted it to last longer.

"Robin," he said, somewhat breathlessly, his head still spinning like a carousel, "can we do that again-"

"Shit," Robin suddenly said. "Oh shit, shit, shit!" she practically yelled and pulled quickly away from Steve fast, almost making him stumble and fall.

"What, what was that-"

Robin looked at her watch. "Fuck, okay. Ten-fifteen."

"What got into you?" Steve had asked, suddenly feeling cold. Possibly a bit alarmed, too. The euphoric feeling was wearing off.

"Shit," Robin stuttered once more. "I- I uh, sorry Steve. I need to go, my little sister- I, I promised to take her to the movies. And, and I'm so late."

Steve stood there, staring at her. "Right," he mumbled, suddenly feeling terrible.

"I'm so sorry, I'll make it up to you," Robin said, running to her rusty, old bike. Steve hated that bike. Stupid old bike. He bit his lip. Robin glanced back at him one more time, already hopping on her bike. "See you tomorrow?"

Steve's voice came out quiet. "Yeah. See you."

And Robin was gone. So was the amazing feeling. And eternity.

Steve didn't feel great anymore. Not at all on the top of the world. He didn't feel like nothing could hurt him, vice versa. He suddenly became very aware of his surroundings. He was in the woods, alone, rather late. His head still spinning, he started to walk in a random direction.

━━━

Steve's heart pounded faster than ever. His breathing was uneven, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, what is this," he said between gritted teeth and looked behind his shoulder. Everything around him was dark and quiet. Not a single soul was near him, and he felt off. He felt like something bad was about to happen. He felt vulnerable and small.

"Fuck,fuckshit," he mumbled again and clenched on the sides of his jacket. Something was wrong, so fucking wrong, and he knew it.

Suddenly, his chest hurt. It hurt so bad he had to stop walking and bend over. At this point he started to feel proper panic, sure that something was actually going to happen.

The nausea came out of nowhere, and he threw up. His breathing was intermittent and his palms sweated. His entire body sweated and suddenly, all of the warmth that he had had just a few minutes ago, was gone. Everything good he felt a while ago, was gone. It was no longer great or amazing. He just wanted to go home and sleep. He wanted to sleep so fucking bad. For an eternity, maybe.

Then, out of nowhere, he collapsed, with a thud, that no one was around to hear. No one could help Steve. He was all alone.

Tears starting to form in the corners of Steve's eyes, he tried to crawl on the cold ground. He kind of knew where he was. Of he was correct, the Wheelers' house wasn't that far away. Maybe he could make his way there. Maybe they would hear him, run to him and help him-

He stopped moving. He couldn't move anymore. He was exhausted, scared and alone.

"No, no, no," he cried out and frantically tried his best to move again. "Stupid shitty body! Move- move!"

He didn't move anymore, not once. No matter how desperate he was, his body wouldn't move. Instead, he started to cry. He could only lie there and sob into his knees.

━━━

FRIDAY 7.6.1985

It was a sunny morning. Nice weather, nice trees, nice grass, nice benches in the parks. Nice everything. A nice lifeless body lying in the middle of the woods.

Steve Harrington was dead. He had died on Thursday, 6.6.1985, not long after he was left alone. His cause of death had been a stroke, caused by an overdose of cocaine. It had been supposed to be just one time. He had been supposed to just try it. Instead, he had died. He had died alone, scared and choking on his own tears. He had died completely alone. Steve Harrington had died the exact way he was so afraid of.

No one had been there to tell him he was loved. No one had been there to help him. No one had been there to listen to his last words. There had been none, but no one would ever know because no one had been there.

It wasn't a hero's death. He didn't die to save others. He didn't die protecting anyone. He just happened to die. Overdose happens all the time and he was just another random victim.

Some people just die and Steve Harrington just happened to be one of them.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my (and my friend's) first fic. Leave comments, please. Also, please tell us if there are mistakes with the grammar as we are in no way professionals and would like to learn and fix them.


End file.
